Worth Waiting For
by Higuchimon
Summary: It started with a cold. It continued with a gift. It will end with a promise.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters presented here and am not making any profit off of this whatsoever.  
**Title:** Worth Waiting For  
**Word Count:** 2,176  
**Rated:** PG-13  
**Romance:** Mai x Shizuka  
**Notes:** This takes place a few years after the Ceremonial Duel and was written for the fourth season of the Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge. Comments and criticism gratefully accepted.  
**Summary:** It started with a cold. It continued with a gift. It will end with a promise.

* * *

Shizuka rode the elevator up to the third floor, her arms wrapped around a colorful bag. From the outside, for the most part, it was impossible to tell what was in the bag, other than the fact it couldn't be all that large. Shizuka could just look down and see it, and at any rate, she knew what it was, since she'd wrapped it up and put it in there in the first place. She hoped that Mai would like the little gift. Being sick was bad enough. This was her way of trying to make the beautiful blonde feel better. At least as much as she could.

Her eyes, usually wide and soft anyway, acquired something of a dreamy cast at the thought of Kujaku Mai. The two of them had grown to know each other quite a bit over the last few years, and Shizuka looked forward to every single moment that they spent together.

Shizuka honestly had no idea of why Mai liked to spend time around her. She wasn't a duelist, she wasn't even twenty-one yet, and she really considered herself one of the plainest and least interesting people that she knew. Sure, she had something of a talent for artwork, and hoped to get a job at Industrial Illusions creating Duel Monster cards one day, but that was hardly something that _Mai_ would find interesting. She played the game, she didn't worry herself with creating it. At least, that was what Shizuka thought.

_But she's always asking me how my art classes are going. Or if I need a model._ The thought of that made her blush uncontrollably, and that was something else that she didn't quite understand. No one had ever made her react the way Mai did. But it wasn't something that _disturbed_ her. It just made her more curious to find out more about it.

She walked down the hallway to the correct door and knocked lightly. "Mai?" she called out, knowing the other could hear her from all the other times she'd visited here. "It's me, Shizuka. May I come in?"

For a few moments, she wondered if Mai were asleep and considered coming back later. Then she heard light footsteps, and the locks were unlocked, and Mai peered out at her, a slightly wan smile on her lips. "What are you doing here, pretty?" She'd called Shizuka that for over a year now, and Shizuka had never quite had the nerve to ask her just why. There were a lot of things Mai did that Shizuka wondered about, and that was just one of them.

"I heard you were sick." Shizuka lifted up the bag in her arms. "So I brought you some things."

Mai's smile grew a touch stronger, then she stepped back and let the younger woman in. "That's so sweet of you. Thank you."

Shizuka came inside, and Mai closed and locked the door again. She lived in a reasonably good district, but she still locked the door, whether she was there or not. Yet again, that was something else Shizuka didn't ask about but wondered.

Once the rest of the world was closed out, Mai shuffled back over to the couch she'd apparently been resting on when Shizuka had arrived. The redhead noticed as she followed that Mai wasn't her usual perfectly together self at the moment. Her hair was slightly messy, her nose was red and she sniffled now and then, and instead of one of those outfits that showed off her magnificent body, she wore a nightgown and a houserobe over it, both of a deep gold that matched her hair. Shizuka couldn't help but smile at that, too. Even in her sleepwear, Mai looked incredible.

The blonde settled back down on the couch, a cup of tea and a box of tissues close to her hands. "You really didn't need to come, you know. You might catch my cold."

Shizuka only shrugged as she sat down in a chair Mai indicated with a graceful wave of her hands. "It's all right. I've had colds before." She settled the bag in her lap and first removed the wrapped up package, putting it to one side. That would come after the first gift, which was on the bottom because it was slightly larger and flatter than the other. "I brought you some miso soup that I made."

"Thank you." Mai replied courteously, her violet eyes warming even more as Shizuka set the covered plastic bowl on the table next to the tea and tissues. "I was going to make some, but yours smells like it would be better anyway."

Shizuka flushed at the compliment. She wasn't the best cook in the world, but she did like to make things for the people she cared about, and Mai was certainly one of them. There had been more than one time she'd seen something in a store somewhere and thought about how much it would suit Mai or how much she thought Mai might like it. The older woman simply did not leave her mind, and Shizuka was perfectly happy with that.

"What is that?" Mai gestured towards the other package, and Shizuka picked it up quickly. She'd put it in a box and then wrapped the box, since just wrapping the gift itself would have still shown what it was.

"Here." She held it out, and Mai took it, much more than a hint of curiosity in her expression as she started to unwrap it. Shizuka watched, a little nervously if the truth were to be told, as Mai reached inside and pulled out a plushie Harpy Lady.

Mai stared at it for a moment or two then squealed happily, sounding much more as if she were twelve instead of thirty. "Oh, it's so cute! Thank you!"

"I thought you'd like it." Shizuka blushed at just how enthusiastically Mai was taking the gift. "It really reminded me of you." Well, that was kind of stupid, wasn't it? Of course it would. Mai's signature cards _were_ Amazons and Harpies, after all. Everyone who knew her knew that. But regardless, it still had stuck in Shizuka's mind as being _Mai_, strong and independent.

Mai set the plushie on the back of the couch, tugging it around until Harpy Lady's head was looking over one folded wing, with that familiar proud look. Shizuka smiled; that was always the image she had of Mai, watching and alert of everything, no matter what.

The moment, if moment it was, was suddenly spoiled when Mai sneezed and fumbled for the tissues suddenly. Once she was done, she sniffled slightly and smiled. "I think maybe I should have some of that soup before it gets too cold."

"I think you're right." Shizuka had made it as hot as she could, and put it in one of those special new plastic bowls that kept in heat a great deal better than the old kinds of plastic did. "I'll get you a spoon."

She knew where everything was in Mai's kitchen, and was quickly back with the spoon as Mai opened up the cover and took in a deep breath. "This really does smell fantastic," Mai told her. "You're going to have to show me what you did."

"I didn't do a whole lot that's special," Shizuka replied, turning her head away with a faint blush. "You could probably make it better anyway."

"Not a chance, pretty," Mai replied with a grin. "Miso soup's always been something I don't have a chance with. I can make a lot of things, but that's just not one of them. So, you're going to have to show me."

Shizuka nodded at once then. "All right, if you really want me to, and if you really like it." She hoped that it wouldn't disagree with her. Jounouchi had certainly liked it when she'd made some for him when _he_ was sick, after all. But Mai was different.

"I know I will." Mai said after a moment, her voice a bit lower and softer. Shizuka watched as she started to eat, savoring every little bite as if it were the staff of life itself. She wished that she'd bothered to eat a little something herself. But she'd been so busy getting this ready for Mai and making certain that the plushie was wrapped up neatly that she hadn't bothered.

Her stomach made that fact known as it rumbled lightly, and Mai looked at her. "You haven't eaten, have you?" Shizuka didn't even get a chance to say yes or no before Mai pushed the bowl towards her and pointed imperiously towards the kitchen. "You go get yourself a spoon and have some of this. I'm not going to have you fainting before you leave here!"

There were a few people whose command Shizuka could have resisted, but not when Mai spoke, not in that tone, not even with the slight nasal edge to it born from her cold. So she obediently went and got herself a spoon and sat back down to eat. "What _would_ you do if I did faint?" she asked curiously after the first few bites. It really was good, she decided, and thought she might make more for herself when she got the chance.

"Pick you up and bring you over here," Mai said with a soft smile as she touched the back of the couch. "Try to get you to wake up." Her eyes twinkled softly. "How _do_ you wake up a sleeping princess anyway?"

Shizuka's cheeks went as red as possible and she stared down at the spoon, completely uncertain of what to say for a few minutes. "I'm not a princess, Mai."

"You're pretty enough to be one, pretty," Mai told her, sniffling a bit at the same time. Somehow, the words sounded even more true than if she'd been able to speak clearly. "But it doesn't make a difference to me." She paused for a moment, then motioned at the soup. "Eat that and we won't have to worry about it, will we?"

That got a quick nod, and the two of them ate until they could hold no more. There was still some left in the bowl, and Shizuka went to put it in the refrigerator, wanting the chance to cool herself. What Mai had said had struck her right to the heart. There had been more to those words than a simple compliment on her looks. Mai _always_ called her pretty. It was just something she did. But that…that had sounded like so much more.

_Is that what she meant?_ Shizuka wasn't quite as innocent as she suspected her mother wanted her to be. She'd went on a few dates, and had kissed a couple of guys before. And she knew that there were guys who dated guys and girls who dated girls in the world. One of her classmates was like that.

Had Mai been trying to tell her something by that? Had she been trying to say something like that any other time? If she had, and Shizuka just hadn't noticed…did that mean that she herself wasn't interested or …or something else? Shizuka honestly had no idea.

She took another breath and then walked back into the living room. Mai was leaning back on the couch, her eyes closed, a slightly damp cloth spread across her face. Shizuka hadn't gotten too close to her chair when the other woman spoke. "You can sit on the couch if you want. There's enough room here."

"What about your cold?" Shizuka asked without thinking. Sitting next to Mai, after what she'd just been thinking of, sent pleasurable shivers down her spine.

"I don't think I'm contagious anymore, though I probably shouldn't kiss you. Just in case." Mai sat up a little more and tugged the cloth down, looking at Shizuka a bit warily. "Unless you really would like me too."

A thousand thoughts rushed through Shizuka's mind as she settled herself on the couch. It was bigger than she'd thought, but she was still extremely aware of Mai being there. This certainly wasn't the first time they'd shared the couch. Just a couple of weeks ago she'd spent the weekend here, and they'd fallen asleep together there…

It had felt good to wake up like that, too, with Mai's arms around her. She smiled some just at the memory, and decided it wouldn't hurt a great deal to say this. Maybe it would even help. "How about saving that for when you're all the way well again?"

Mai tilted her head slightly, then slowly smiled, one hand going over to touch Shizuka's. Little thrills surged through her at the touch and her own smile widened warmly. "Good things are worth waiting for, pretty."

"That's what I've heard." Shizuka agreed, turning her hand up and tightening her fingers around Mai's briefly. "I think whoever said that was right."

"I have a feeling they are." Mai smiled again, and Shizuka could hardly wait for the wait to be over.

**The End**


End file.
